A few questions please

[Totalwar]

Should you check your blood sugars two hours after main meal?

should you pinch your stomach before injecting insulin or is it flat Against the stomach.

What if you inject the insulin into the muscle instead of fat by mistake?

 

[Inka]

@Totalwar

1) Yes, ideally but if you’re confident the meal is an ok one for you, you don’t have to do it after every meal.

2) It depends on the body area, how much fat you’ve got, and the length of the needle. You’re aiming to get the insulin into the subcutaneous fat not the muscle so if you need to pinch up then do.

3) Injecting into a muscle can cause big hypos. In order to avoid doing so, have the right length needle, choose your spot carefully and pinch up if necessary.

 

[everydayupsanddowns]

Should you check your blood sugars two hours after main meal?

Possibly? Though it depends on what you are wanting to find out, and any results at 2hrs have to be interpreted in the context of approx 50-60% of the dose still being active.

should you pinch your stomach before injecting insulin or is it flat Against the stomach.

I generally used longer needles (8mm) than are used these days, so I often pinched up.

What if you inject the insulin into the muscle instead of fat by mistake?

The dose would act far more quickly than expected, risking hypoglycaemia, and would likely hurt more?

 

[Totalwar]

Thanks for the advice everyone.I think the needles are 4mm for insulin pen both short acting and long acting.I have loads of fat on my stomach.

I use novarapid.before main meal to find out if my sugars are to high I test.

 

[rebrascora]

Unless you are really skinny you would really have to be going some to hit muscle with a 4mm needle even injecting flat in the approved injection sites, ie abdomen, upper arms, thighs and buttocks. Pinching up can be helpful to make it less painful because it tensions the skin and makes it easier for the needle to break the surface and slide in, particularly if you have older skin which is a bit wrinkled as some spots on my stomach are.

When you say, you use NovoRapid before your main meal, do you not inject it before every meal?

 

[Totalwar]

No not every meal just main meal and toujeo 104 units first thing in morning.I bit overwhelmed to be honest managing the insulinI feel you need a degree to manage it and I not very intelligent.

 

[Kaylz]

Unless you are really skinny you would really have to be going some to hit muscle with a 4mm needle

Surprisingly it was after I'd gained weight I hit muscle in my thigh with a 4mm needle and had injected as normal like I'd been doing for years so it can happen xxxx

 

[Lucyr]

1. It depends what you’re going to do with the information. If you’re going to do a correction, or learn something about the insulin dose or timing or food choice for next time then test. If you’re not going to do anything with the information then why bother.

2. No need to pinch unless you use 8mm+ needles

3. You won’t inject into muscle unless using particularly long needles.

 

[Totalwar]

I wanted to learn with the info I had DKA recently and get really tired after meals.I needed to know what level my sugar level were After dinner as thought it be the highest level that why I take novarapid then.

stupidly, I stopped taking my insulin for two weeks that why I got DKA and after mini strokes Sorry my spelling sucks

 

[Bruce Stephens]

I needed to know what level my sugar level were After dinner as thought it be the highest level that why I take novarapid then.

Novorapid takes ~30 minutes to start to act and lasts for about 4 hours. (The times vary between individuals, and for time of day, and injection site. But it's not instant and it sticks around.) So the goal is to try and inject at the right time for the meal so we don't go too high and (of course) to inject the right amount so (after the ~4 hours) we've covered the meal and are roughly level.

I don't think there's anything wrong with testing a couple of hours after a meal as you suggest, but you might be better not doing it unless you have reason to think you'll learn something specific. (Maybe the last time you ate that meal (or a similar one) you were unexpectedly high or low before the next meal, for example.)

 

[rebrascora]

NovoRapid is a short acting insulin designed to deal with the glucose released from the food we eat. Toujeo is a slow release insulin designed to deal with the glucose our liver releases day and night to keep our vital organs functioning. I see my liver as a kind of back up battery to keep me ticking over when I am not eating/digesting food to give me energy. Those of us who use a short acting insulin like NovoRapid, inject it before each meal to keep our Blood Glucose (BG) levels from going too high with each meal we eat. Otherwise our levels would just get higher and higher as the day went on or we would have to take lots more slow acting insulin but that would likely cause our levels to go too low overnight.
If I were you, I would ask your nurse whether you should be injecting the NovoRapid before every meal, not just your evening meal.

 

[Totalwar]

my sugar levels always been to high find very difficult to control them and I only had one low sugar level since 2007

 

[Leadinglights]

my sugar levels always been to high find very difficult to control them and I only had one low sugar level since 2007

It sounds like the reason is that your insulin regime is not suiting what your body needs to keep your blood glucose at a reasonable level. You should discuss a review of your regime with your diabetic team to try to get better management.

 

[Totalwar]

I only been taking insulin for a few years and I very difficult to deal with not sure if I have Community Diabetes Team At the moment.

 

[Totalwar]

Just when I think I need the Community Diabetes Team the most they discharge me to my GP.Who are useless since covid happened.

Thanks everyone for the feedback and support it was very much appreciated.